Zika a longshot

Published 12:19 pm, Thursday, August 4, 2016

Zika a longshot

I have been amazed at the ignorance and the fear mongering going on by our state and local officials when it comes to the Zika virus and mosquito-delivered viruses in general. If you did not know it, the state has been testing mosquitos, as mandated by the Centers for Disease Control, for three other viruses for years including at two locations right here in Fairfield.

While Zika was added to the CDC-mandated list this year, Eastern Equine encephalitis, West Nile Virus and Jamestown Canyon Virus have been on the mandated testing list for quite some time.

Every one of those viruses can be as dangerous and deadly to humans as Zika. And every one of those three viruses has been found right here for years. Only the incidence rate of mortality is different. There is a reason CDC made up the list but limited it as it does.

And people should understand that the mosquitos are not the “carriers” of any of the viruses. Mosquitos transmit viruses to us humans via a bite.

That is after they pick up the virus by biting a “carrier” animal. The carrier for West Nile and Eastern Equine encephalitis is long known to be a bird of some variety. The carrier for Jamestown Canyon Virus is the white tailed deer. And to the best of my research of the available information from CDC, mosquitos get the Zika virus when they bite a human infected with the virus. Humans are the Zika carriers

I am not suggesting here that we ban all birds, white-tailed deer or even human beings from our state. I am suggesting that our government officials do a better job educating the public on the basic science about what is gong on. Basic knowledge is always better than fear-mongering politics for most of us.

As best I can tell, Zika will find its way around Connecticut if the right mosquito bites the wrong Zika infected person. And I expect that will happen but not anytime soon. So until then, let’s all enjoy the summer in our summer clothes.